


Contemplating Shadows

by RileyC



Category: Batman (Movies - Nolan)
Genre: Emotional Infidelity, Existential Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-28
Updated: 2013-09-28
Packaged: 2017-12-27 19:53:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/982954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RileyC/pseuds/RileyC
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nothing's happen, probably it never will, but still Jim wonders sometimes...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Contemplating Shadows

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the LiveJournal ComicDrabbles challenge #050: "infidelity"

Nothing’s happened, probably it never will. That gray area, devoid of certainty, concerns him.

 

This _is_ just another part of his workday. Jim reminds himself of that as he checks his watch and juggles scenarios to explain why Batman’s late. Most of them involve Batman bleeding out his life in some dark alley because Jim wasn’t there to help him. He wishes that was overwrought drama but this is Gotham and sooner or later that will be the next day’s headline for one or both of them.

 

He touches the thermos he’s brought out to the deck along with two mugs. It’s still warm. He hasn’t been out here waiting that long really.

 

It’s a quiet night, barely a breeze strong enough to stir the leaves. Way off in the distance there’s a dog barking and, really, if he can hear that he ought to be able to pick up on the sound of a footfall as it hits his deck. Like every time before, though, his only warning is a subtle change in the atmosphere and that uncanny sense of being watched—and he turns to find Batman has arrived for this rendezvous (and that’s the wrong word because it makes him think of trysts, and this isn’t that, although it’s secret enough, and private)---

 

They greet each other with a nod and Jim pours out the coffee. Steam curls up from his Gotham Knights mug and fogs his glasses. As the lenses clear, he glances over in time to glimpse the Dark’s Knight brief quirk of a smile as he regards the Batman mug Jim’s just handed him.

 

Neither of them say much because it _has_ been a quiet night. There’s no unsolved string of brutal murders to consult over, no criminal with a flair for performance art has recently made their debut; there’s a check-kiting gang that’s extra shady but not really in need of their special attention. As they drink their coffee, and don’t talk, Jim feels less alone, though. He doesn’t ask if it’s the same for Batman. That he’s there, for no other reason, is all Jim really needs to know.

 

Later, when they’ve finished their coffee and Batman’s gone again, Jim takes the thermos and mugs back inside. He thinks about washing them out…covering up the evidence? He tells himself there is no evidence. Nothing’s going on. There are only gray, nebulous shadows of things that might be.

 

He leaves the thermos and mugs on the counter and lays awake beside his wife for a long time, contemplating shadows.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm setting myself a goal to post at least one standalone fic every Friday, with one work-in-progress updated every Wednesday. My hope is this will help me overcome some writing troubles, as well as reward the patience of anyone waiting for the next chapter of "Disclosures," and all the other WIPs. 
> 
> Now I just have to designate a day to tackle feedback...


End file.
